To celebrate the 2006-2007 academic school year at AU, students, faculty and staff joined Interim President Neil Kerwin on the Friedhem Quadrangle, where a number of food tents and tables had been set up for the Celebrate AU festival.
Celebrate AU is a campus-wide celebration of the new academic year and is open to all who wish to attend. This year the event was initially set for Sept. 6, but inclement weather caused a postponement.
It seemed as though the AU community would again be disappointed by the weather, but early morning rain tapered off and the weather was cool and pleasant. Students gathered by the hundreds on the quad, where tables and tents were set up. At 1 p.m., party music boomed across the quad from loudspeakers and people lined up at food tents, drawn by the smells of hot dogs and funnel cake.
Special events staff handed out little basketballs to everybody who wanted one.
"It's the president's welcome back celebration, and every year we give people something to remember school spirit," said Leslie Wong, who works in the president's office. "Last year it was soccer balls, and we decided on basketballs this year."
Tarek Mahfouz from the payroll department enjoyed the event.
"It really brings the community together, and everybody comes out to have fun," Mahfouz said. "The weather's awesome and everybody's happy."
Students also credited the event for creating unity.
"I think it's a great event that brings AU together," said Joe Vidulich, a junior in the School of Public Affairs. "We can just forget academics and clubs for a few hours and have fun with one another."
Student Government President Ashley Mushnick agreed.
"You don't see this kind of unity every day here," she said.
